Posts in Category: Florida
Thinks he is a Scrub Jay??
Red-bellied Woodpecker: Helen and Allen Cruickshank Sanctuary, Rockledge, Florida, USA, January 2026 — We have Red-bellied Woodpeckers who come to suet on our back deck. If I even look at them through the glass of back deck door they are off and way. Yet in Florida, this one flew down and fed with the Scrub Jays right at my feet. I think he must was maybe a founding…raised in a Jay nest…or maybe he has just learned his habits from the Jays. Anyway I really appreciated his cooperation. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
up close and personal
Florida Scrub Jay: Helen and Allen Cruickshank Santuary, Rockledge, Florida, USA, January 2025 — like I said yesterday sometimes the hardest part about photographing Florida Scrub Jays is not stepping on them. This one was literally at my feet, barely within the close focus of my lens. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Scrub Jays
Florida Scrub Jay: Helen and Allen Cruickshank Sanctuary, Rockledge, Florida, USA. January 2025 — It was still cloudy and cool on Friday morning and since I was already down that way for a workshop I had been assigned, I stoped by the Florida Scrub Jay Sanctuary to see if I could find some Jays. I found a flock or family just about where I expected them to be and had a lot of fun with them as they fed all around me. Florida Scrub Jays have always been gregarious and unafraid of humans, and they have only become more so the protection of the Sanctuary. Sometimes the only trick to photographing them is to keep from stepping on them…though all these shots were at the long end of the zoom. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Over there
Great Egret: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA. January 2025 — Again the dank, dark, damp Thursday when I got to Florida for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, and out on my first loop around Black Point Drive. White bird against a dark background. Classic exposure problem. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Highlight metering. Processed in Photomator.
Damp wood
Wood Stork: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Yes, still from my dank, dark, damp first Thursday in Florida for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. What can I say. This stork is not appreciating the weather. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Nope!
Great Egret: Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Try and try again…the is how Great Egret hunting goes (or any other fishing bird for that matter). Still that dull, dank, dark first Thursday of my visit to the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Out of the grey
Forster’s Tern (?): Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — I am not a tern and gull expert, but I am thinking Forster’s Tern, as being one of the mostly likely at Merritt Island in winter. Still that dull, dark, dank Thursday so it is mostly grey on grey…kind of condensed out of the sky with the tail feathers just solid enough to see. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds-in-flight and action modifications. Processed in Photomator and assembled in FrameMagic.
Misery!
Reddish Egret (immature): Black Point Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island NWR, Titusville, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Still that first dull, dark, dank, Thursday in Florida, and this immature Reddish Egret is really feeling it. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Egret in the gloom
Great Egret: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Still from the gloom, wet, damp, dank, dark Thursday of the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival at Orlando Wetlands. Leading a Point’nShootNature Photography workshop. Not bad light for an Egret…you get to see the full range of feather detail. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 489mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.
Parking lot cranes
Sandhill Crane: Orlando Wetlands Park. Christmas, Florida, USA, January 2025 — Florida Sandhill Cranes, as I have observed in the past, seem like a totally different bird than western Sandhills. Florida Sandhills have no fear of man. If you stand still, they will walk right up to you, paying you not the least attention. Western Sandhills are off and away at any close approach, and by close I mean 30 yards. These two Florida specimens wandered into the parking lot at Orlando Wetlands and calmly fed along the back edge with cars in the lot and people milling about. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my bird and wildlife modifications. Processed in Photomator.